Why I Don't Like Women's Magazines

I don't like women's magazines.  Give me a copy of Fast Company or Newsweek or even Men's Health instead.  (want insight into guys?  Check out Men's Health for some interesting reading).   

I haven't quite been able to place my finger on why I don't enjoy women's magazines.  But while doing some post-Thanksgiving "I'm too fat to move or my pants button will explode and blind my Boston Terrier) web surfing, I ran across a really interesting blog Feminine Genius with an interesting take on women's magazines:

While one page extols the freedoms available to the over-50 woman, the other lists all the tried and true beauty products that are absolutely necessary for aging skin. All that new free time seems to be absorbed in applying various creams to our faces and necks.

When I close the magazine, instead of feeling empowered, I feel diminished

Wow - I feel diminished.  Maybe that's why I don't like reading women's magazines. And this woman echos the sentiments of many baby boomers - perhaps one of the most powerful yet misunderstood demographics out there.

I also prefer to turn to the Internet for my reading/education/entertainment.   Give me a bunch of fascinating blog posts over Vogue any day.    I like having control over my content.  My time is too precious to waste on articles that hold no interest for me.   

Marketers - take note -if you want to reach women - you  must have a strong Internet presence.     Sure, many of your customers are still reading Cosmopolitan, but there are a large number of educated, affluent women who are walking right past the new stands to their laptops.   Thanks to search engines and bookmarked websites and RSS feeds - she's creating her own online magazine filled with material she wants to see.  Will you be a part of her magazine?

Comments

[sunnyday]

Hi! I saw the same post at Feminine Genius' blog and it really struck me. You're right -- more people are putting up their own online mags and putting in it what THEY want to see. I'm one of them! =)

Since I have a few issues of Vogue and Glamour, I also have mags that are less-beauty-and-image-concerned for my reading fare. I need them for balance or else I, too, would feel diminished and inadequate somehow...

Good day!

Sunny

[Jinal Shah]

You certainly have a point. I work at a woman's magazine and while I do not necessarily defend what we publish- I think, or maybe it's what I've learnt, is that most women's magazines are made to give women that 30 minutes of respite away from their real lives. like a mini-movie, only in form of a book.
yeah, most of us barely skim through the pages, but for whatever it's worth is- its fun skimming. And since the circ. numbers for women's magazines keep increasing, I guess there others enjoy the skimming too.

[Tim Almond]

Men's Health would give you less insight into Men as Cosmo will give into Women. Most men don't want to be the next market for the cosmetics industry.

Read some Nick Hornby novels (High Fidelity and Fever Pitch) instead.

[Tamara McHatton]

I don't care for women's magazines either, and when my fiance offered to get me a Playgirl (after seeing me reading his Playboy), I turned him down on the offer. Instead of mopping around about not having what I wanted in a magazine I decided to change that, and came up with my answer to Playboy's class and depth, without the full nudity, and SUITE Magazine (www.suitemag.com) was born. We're in our second year now and our numbers are increasing every day...so I'd say there's lots of women out there that prefer this alternative.

[Acomplia]

Rimonabant is an anorectic anti-obesity drug. It is a CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist.

Rimonabant has been found to stop food craving enough to help people lose weight, and can also help curb other unhealthy urges, such as smoking. This is a non-control weight loss solution that in one study helped people who were overweight drop an average of 20 pounds.

[Maryam]

just call the toll free number and tell them you're a minor. you're eglally allowed to back out of contracts if you did not fully understand the terms. tell them that anyways. then tell them to go screw their neighbor's dog. and post it on youtube

[Okan]

I know your pain and I know your journey firlay well. I also made the commitment recently to replace myself. I signed up for Jonas' site and hired someone about 4 weeks ago. The initial training has been difficult but mainly because up until now I have done a bad job of mapping out my processes. My employee is eager and motivated. I have not unloaded too much of what I personally do day to day but she is very competent at several other key tasks that are crucial to my business. I see myself keeping someone at all times so I even went out of my way to install a opensource project-management suite and created a training site for her(which I will then reuse for my other employees). Not easy to do all this without patience a big picture overview. I imagine that my training experience allows me the confidence to know that if I train her right and invest the time on this, it will pay off HUGE in the long run little by little she has impressed me. I feel good knowing that when I am asleep she is producing results for me. sigh I am reminded of a quote I used to give my training classes: If you don't have time to do it right,you must have time to do it again teevee\\\ s last blog post..

[Firdaus]

Hi JohnathanAny updates on how tnhigs are progressing with your outsourcing? I listened to a call last night with John Jonas and am looking to make the jump and hire someone too.Also, is the monthly fee paid to JJ worth it? I believe it's like $97/month and for that you get lots of great supporting materials which can be given to your new employee', saving you the headache. Did you take on that option?ThanksPaul

[Luis]

Yes to both of yoru questions. Start with where you live. I don't know what cotunry you are in, or what city, but go to your local newspaper first and ask if they publish poetry. Then go to your local library, and ask about magazines that publish poetry. But DO NOT get involved with people who want you to pay them to publish your poetry. That's a scam.

[Yasmim]

As much I hate these gurus I also believe that smowehere the newbie is also to be blamed. I mean their greed actually. If they could just be a little bit more careful and just remember that if somebody really stumbled upon some *secret* way to make money online which even a dumb person can follow easily, why would they share it with all the world.

[Betio]

I have seen this before men's 'normal wgeiht' BMIs are 20-25 and the women's range is 18-23. I believe the explanation for this is that men have a higher muscle-to-fat ratio to women, and as muscle is heavier than fat, the 'normal wgeiht' range for men is higher than that of women. Similarly, the 'normal wgeiht' range is reduced for East Asian people, also to 18-23, to account for smaller and lighter bones. I suppose this means that East Asian women have an 'normal wgeiht BMI' range of 16-21? Nonetheless this doesn't change anything about what a load of rubbish the BMI is in the first place. Health has nothing to do with your wgeiht, BMI or clothing size. Most decent medical professionals (in my experience, I've heard different stories from others) would know to look at health indicators like blood pressure, blood glucose level, bone density, cholesterol and resting heart rate when determining whether someone is fit or not or fitness indicators like lung capacity and cardiovascular stamina. The BMI is a waste of three letters and should be long forgotten now! The only "advantage" it has it that it is quick and easy to calculate, although at a terrible sacrifice to meaningful-ness. I understand that studies on obesity need to collect large amounts of data from large sample sizes and therefore tend to prefer simplistic measures like the BMI, but I think that measuring body fat percentage is a far more accurate (and just as easy, these days) method. The only problem is that there is little data out there on body fat percentages from previous eras since the measurement tools are slightly more high-tech.

[Michie]

Lois, Thanks for the inquiry AND for the rndeemir to change our number on the website! We felt that we did not need a business cell and a land line. You can reach us at: 919-795-4704. The Aug 8, 1955 Life Magazine has been sold.Thanks again,Becky